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The 'Who Supports Who' topic


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  • 2 weeks later...
Steelers cuz I live in Pittsburgh, but I'm more of a Pitt Panther and college fan mainly because I have on good word the NFL is fixed to some extent so that pretty much ruined it for me.

Care to explain? I fail to see how the NFL is 'fixed'

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The NFL has so much money they don't need the big markets that's the thing. Pittsburgh and Dallas have the biggest fan bases across the country. Consider.........The PATRIOTS won the Super Bowl right after 9/11, the Steelers win it in Detroit when Bettis is retiring, Steelers vs Cardinals after the Cardinals take the Steelers coordinator, the Saints win it a few years after Katrina, etc, etc, etc. My grandfather knows a retired referee and he never admitted it was, but said referees are there for more than just to officiate lol thats all he would tell us. And it's an easy sport to change a game with one holding call on third down (there's holding on every play) or a big pass interference call. I'm not saying anyone has to agree with me, I just think of it as like a good movie sometimes but it's still entertaining. I also know a guy who played center for 15 years in the league and asked him and he said he wasnt sure. He worked as hard as he could to win a Super Bowl and he did with Tampa Bay, but he also remembered a couple key games where referees made a call that changed a whole season and wouldn't even explain it.....

Actually the NFL becoming boring to me is part of the reason I turned to Villa :) I still love college football though. Something about the atmosphere on gameday is better than an NFL everyone get drunk and not even watch the game unless its playoffs (in which case get so drunk you dont remember it) atmosphere

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Surely the Giants or Jets winning the Super Bowl after 9/11 would be the ideal fix? Not some team from a region that hated New York.

I'm personally the opposite, college football isn't fixed but might as well be. It's too predictable and there's too many huge victories, it gets a bit boring!

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The NFL has so much money they don't need the big markets that's the thing. Pittsburgh and Dallas have the biggest fan bases across the country. Consider.........The PATRIOTS won the Super Bowl right after 9/11, the Steelers win it in Detroit when Bettis is retiring, Steelers vs Cardinals after the Cardinals take the Steelers coordinator, the Saints win it a few years after Katrina, etc, etc, etc.

Yet they are trying to expand the league over into the UK and Europe to establish yet another huge money making market?

So the whole AFC and Super Bowl was fixed for the sake of Jerome Bettis? The whole league was fixed so the Cardinals could play the Steelers for the sake of Ken Whisenhunt and then they lost? See what Kurt said about NY and 9/11 but also the season was fixed so that a team named the Patriots could win so the whole nation could rejoice with pride!?!?

Look at what you are suggesting and then see how ridiculous it sounds.

Next you will be telling me that the 2007 New York Football Giants didn't perform one of the greatest giants killings in football history, that they didn't topple an 18-0 Empire on the verge of perfection after a perfect regular season that saw them obliterate records, because it was all a set up due to Belichick's spygate disgrace.........or 9/11 as it was a few years before, or any other coincidental conspiracy theory.

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You can never have enough money when you have a business like the NFL so yes theyll try to expand. And yes the Bettis and Whisenhunt things made for great storylines. It isnt that unfathomable that it was set up. And with the Patriots in 2001, all you need is to look at the Tuck Rule play...I understand coincidental things happen, but Im just sharing my thoughts after listening to some people who have experience with the NFL.

Tim Donaghy, a man with lots of involvement in betting on pro sports and was a longtime NBA ref, once said something to the effect of "Pro sports in America are entertainment, not competition". Im not denying its not fun to watch, I just believe it isnt always honest.

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You can never have enough money when you have a business like the NFL so yes theyll try to expand. And yes the Bettis and Whisenhunt things made for great storylines. It isnt that unfathomable that it was set up. And with the Patriots in 2001, all you need is to look at the Tuck Rule play...I understand coincidental things happen, but Im just sharing my thoughts after listening to some people who have experience with the NFL.

Tim Donaghy, a man with lots of involvement in betting on pro sports and was a longtime NBA ref, once said something to the effect of "Pro sports in America are entertainment, not competition". Im not denying its not fun to watch, I just believe it isnt always honest.

Its not unfathomable no, but there is no purpose for the league to go out of its way to see the Steelers all the way to winning the Super Bowl just because thier running back was retiring and it was his home city.

The Steelers like many teams got hot late in the season that year and rode the wave all the way to lifting the trophy, same with the PATs first Super Bowl and the Giants of 07 etc etc.

Bettis winning it in his home town is just one of those great conincidences that make for a nice story. The Whisenhunt thing against his old team i dont see though, if anything that seasons story line was about the rise of the Cardinals from obscurity and their explosive offense taking them all the way to the Bowl. Whisenhunt vs the Steelers was just a nice little side plot, hardly worth fixing the entire league for that alone and for them to go an lose!

The league being fixed i just dont buy it and i see the ridiculous officiating calls all the time, but thats just a part of the game.

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i see the ridiculous officiating calls all the time, but thats just a part of the game.

Exactly. If it were the case that bad referring decisions meant match fixing then the entire footballing world is fixed.

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You can never have enough money when you have a business like the NFL so yes theyll try to expand. And yes the Bettis and Whisenhunt things made for great storylines. It isnt that unfathomable that it was set up. And with the Patriots in 2001, all you need is to look at the Tuck Rule play...I understand coincidental things happen, but Im just sharing my thoughts after listening to some people who have experience with the NFL.

The Tuck Rule was the correct call under the rules in force at the time (and I believe the rule is still essentially the same). Perhaps the first time I've seen it argued that a game was fixed by making the correct call.

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There are ultimately three alternatives:

* for any ball that could be a forward pass, don't consider it to be a forward pass (and thus dead when it hits the ground) until it crosses the line of scrimmage

* require the referee to make a quick judgment call on whether the intent of the passer changed

* once a forward passing motion is initiated, continue to consider it a forward pass attempt unless and until it is obviously not (which is basically the tuck rule)

The first rule is interesting but would dramatically change the game (any incomplete pass behind the line of scrimmage would then be a live ball... goodbye screen passes!). The second would create even more controversy than the 2002 incident did and create it far more regularly: it would be up there with PI in the endzone in terms of potential for phantom gamechanging calls.

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On the subject of blown calls and the Steelers, Super Bowl XL ref admits blown calls

Better late than never.

Haunted by blown calls in Super Bowl XL, referee Bill Leavy acknowledged officiating mistakes that may have contributed to the Seahawks' 21-10 defeat to the Pittsburgh Steelers 4 ½ years ago.

"It was a tough thing for me," Leavy said Friday. "I kicked two calls in the fourth quarter, and I impacted the game, and as an official you never want to do that."

Although Leavy did not refer to any specific calls, two controversial plays in the fourth quarter of the 2006 game hurt the Seahawks and incensed their fans.

While driving for a tying touchdown, tackle Sean Locklear was called for holding on a pass completion that would have put Seattle at Pittsburgh's 1-yard line. After the penalty, quarterback Matt Hasselbeck threw an interception. On that play, he was penalized for an illegal low block and given a 15-yard penalty on what appeared to be a textbook tackle.

Seahawks fans also haven't forgotten some other blunders by officials in the first half.

Receiver Darrell Jackson drew an offensive-pass-interference penalty on a touchdown catch that would have given Seattle a 7-0 lead, but the Hawks had to settle for a field goal.

The Seahawks also appeared to have stopped Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger at the goal line on a 1-yard run late in the first half. Officials signaled a Steelers' touchdown that gave them a 7-3 lead. Leavy upheld the call after a replay review.

"I knew it was going to be tough going up against the Pittsburgh Steelers," former Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren told Seattle fans at a Qwest Field rally days after the game. "I didn't know we were going to have to play the guys in the striped shirts as well."

The NFL never has apologized for those officiating mistakes. Speaking to Seattle-area reporters Friday about NFL rules changes this season, Leavy said he's still bothered by his gaffes.

"It left me with a lot of sleepless nights, and I think about it constantly," he said. "I'll go to my grave wishing that I'd been better. I know that I did my best at that time, but it wasn't good enough.

"When we make mistakes, you got to step up and own them. It's something that all officials have to deal with, but unfortunately when you have to deal with it in the Super Bowl, it's difficult."

Leavy and an officiating crew have been at Seahawks camp refereeing practice.

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